Preventing Child Injuries During Home Safety Month
More than 9 million children between birth and age 19 are seen for injuries each year in U.S. emergency departments, and injuries are the leading cause of death among children in this age group.
“Protect the Ones You Love: Child Injuries Are Preventable” is a CDC initiative to raise parents' awareness about the leading causes of child injury and how they can be prevented. Free materials include fact sheets, CDC’s first report on child injury, state-based data, podcasts, e-cards, and more.
During Home Safety Month —and all year—take some simple hands-on steps to make your home safer. You can protect the ones you love by preventing child injuries at home.
Protect the Ones You Love
Home Safety Month is an ideal time to find out about the leading causes of child injury and the steps you can take to prevent them.
Below are some prevention tips for leading causes of child injury:
Burns
- Install and maintain smoke alarms in your home.
- Develop and practice a family fire escape plan.
- Set your water heater’s thermostat to 120 degrees Fahrenheit or lower.
- Use safe cooking practices, such as never leaving food unattended on the stove.
Drownings
- Install a four-sided isolation fence, with self-closing and self-latching gates, around backyard swimming pools.
- Learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and get recertified every two years.
- Supervise young children at all times around bathtubs, swimming pools, and natural bodies of water.
Falls
- Use playground equipment that is properly designed and maintained, and that has a soft landing surface material below.
- Use home safety devices, such as guards on windows that are located above ground-level, stair gates, and guard rails.
- Supervise young children at all times around fall hazards, like stairs and playground equipment.
Poisonings
- Store medicines and other toxic products such as cleaning solutions in locked or childproof cabinets.
- Put the poison control number, 1-800-222-1222, on or near every home telephone.
- Dispose of unused, unneeded, or expired prescription drugs.
More Information
CDC Resources
- CDC Childhood Injury Report: Patterns of Unintentional Injuries among 0-19 Year Olds in the United States, 2000-2006
- CDC: Protect the Ones You Love Web site
- CDC Healthy Homes Web site
- Burns (
2:58 mins) - Drowning (3:05 mins)
- Falls (2:52 mins)
- Poisoning (2:34 mins)
- Road Traffic Injuries (3:16 mins)
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